Winemakers' Daily Notebook for 2008 Production
12 September 2008 - Sonoma - 7am PT
Participated in the harvest pick. Foggy. Two loads of grapes to Spann Vineyards. Packed one macro bin for Austin. Negotiated 6 times from the mountain top with Emery Air Freight (UPS Supply Chain). Dwayne gave go-ahead for probable shipment. Linda (thanks) took the fruit to Sacramento.
13 September 2008 - Austin 2pm CT
Cleaned with Mike Pav and Mike Misikoff. Picked up grapes at Austin airport with Mike Pav. Emery Air Freight flew the freight route JUST FOR US...there had been an uncertainty because of Hurricane Ike. Cargo into Central Texas had been cancelled. Route was maintained open - flight to San Antonio plus truck. Many many thanks to Duane Sivik for saving this year's Crush and to Mark for coming in to the Emery office to support us!
84 people (including 40 kids) participated in the Crush.
Crush sparse due to grape "shatter" but looks good.
87 gallons of Must.
Doing a few things differently this year.
5pm.
Cold soak process...Added 60ppm of SO2. Added (estimated) 10g of enzyme (Lallzyme EX-V) from Vinquiry to aid in extraction of fruit and tannins (breaking down cell wall of skins) - added to water then poured and mixed into Must. Added 4 dry ice blocks to Must. Covered with macro bin lid.
From Vinquiry notes:
Lallzyme EX-V is an enzyme preparation of
pectinase with hemi-cellulase and cellulase
secondary activities.
This preparation was specially developed for
the improved extraction of color and tannins
for wines to be aged.
15 September 2008 - Monday - 4pm
Opened bin for the first time since dry ice added. Must temperature 60 degrees. Ambient temperature of room is 67 degrees. Set ambient in room to 70 degrees. Brix (large scale hydrometer) was 27.
Added Enoferm Protect (~48 g) into about 3 cups of 110 degree water. When water cooled to 102 degrees, also added about 88g of VQ15 (from Vinquiry) to the same water- per Betsy. Waited 20 minutes. Added gently to surface of must. Waited 10 minutes. Gradually folded slightly into must - to begin fermentation.
From Vinquiry notes:
VQ15
California Strain, isolated by Vinquiry from
spontaneous Rockpile Syrah fermentations, used
in Syrah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and
Merlot where a moderate fermentation rate is
desired. Develops rich, lush, balanced mouthfeel
in wines. VQ15 has a moderate nitrogen demand,
providing good results with varietal flavor and red
fruit character. Good mineral aromatic note
development when carefully rehydrated and
inoculated into musts.
16 September 2008 - Tues - 8pm
Punch down (also in morning). Brix 26.5. Temperature of must is 66 degrees.
17 September 08 - Wed -6pm
Punch down (also in morning). Brix 25. Must is 70 degrees. Ambient is 70 degrees.
18 September 08 - Thurs - 6pm
Ambient 70. Must is 78 degrees. 22 Brix.
19 September 08 - Fri - 7pm
Punch down. 18 Brix. 80 degrees Must.
20 September 08 - Sat - 5pm
Punch down. 15 Brix. 80 degrees Must. 70 degrees ambient.
23 Sept 08 - Tues - 5:30pm
Punched down Sunday morning and then again Monday night - travel during day on Sunday and Monday. Punch down Tuesday evening. Brix is 5.5. Must temperature is 76 degrees. Ambient is 70.
24 Sept 08 - Wed - 8pm
Punch down. 3 Brix. 76 degrees Must.
25 Sept 08 - Thurs - 6pm
Punch down. 1 Brix. 74 degrees Must.
27 Sept 08 - Sat - 6pm
Punch down. -1 Brix. 72 degrees Must.
28 Sept 08 - Sun - 9am
Clinitest 0.6% residual sugar. Will press this afternoon at 3pm. Instructions from Wine Lab (Dave Gusmer) are to add viniflora and nutrients for secondary fermentation after pressing (they had backordered and I did not receive it in time for me to follow my normal procedure of adding it at the beginning of the primary fermentation).
Pressed roughly 56 gallons of wine. Put in 30 gallon barrel (far right in wine room) plus excess in stainless steel tank. Added 2 packets vinaflora eonos and nutrients.
30 March 09
| DATE | WINERY | WINE | ETOH % | pH | TA g/l | FSO2 ppm | TSO2 ppm | RS g/l | MA g/l | VA g/100ml |
| 3/30/2009 | CROSS CREEK WINERY | 07 CABERNET SAUVIGNON | 14.10 | 3.57 | 7.41 | 24 | 171 | 0.31 | 0.20 | 0.109 |
| 3/30/2009 | CROSS CREEK WINERY | 08 CABERNET SAUVIGNON | 14.60 | 3.35 | 9.21 | 0 | 97 | 0.31 | 1.76 | 0.084 |
30ppm SO2 added to 2008 Cab (30g barrel and stainless steel tank).
21 April 09
| DATE | WINERY | WINE | BM WLC AGAR | YEASTS AND BACTERIA WL AGAR | BACTERIA MODIFIED RUGOSA AGAR |
| 4/6/2009 | CROSS CREEK WINERY | 07 CABERNET SAUVIGNON | NEGATIVE | 50 COLONIES OF SACCHAROMYCES | NEGATIVE |
| 4/6/2009 | CROSS CREEK WINERY | 08 CABERNET SAUVIGNON | TNTC BM | TNTC BM | NEGATIVE |
30ppm SO2 added to 2007 Cab (30g barrel and stainless steel tank).
[gap]
30 September 09
Filtered 2008 wine from 30 gallon barrel through 0.5 micron filter. Add resultant wine to 15 gallon quantity in the stainless steel tank. Added 30ppm SO2. Cleaned 30 gallon barrel (on RHS), added water and 100ppm SO2 plus a bit of citric acid.